About Me

[in a cabin in the mountains, Jim wakes up and bangs his head on the table he was sleeping under]
Alex Rieger: Jim, are you alright?
"Reverend" Jim Ignatowski: Yeah...uh ... who are you?
Alex Rieger: I'm Alex. We're friends, we work together.
"Reverend" Jim Ignatowski: What? are we, lumberjacks?
Alex Rieger: No, we're cabdrivers.
"Reverend" Jim Ignatowski: I bet we don't do much business up here!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Demonstrators pour oil and feathers outside the entrance to the Tate Britain gallery, in London, which is hosting the Tate Britain summer party, as part of a protest against BP sponsorship of the arts.

Silly artists. Protesting against donations to the Tate seems a little stupid. Protesting it by making a mess crosses over into nutso territory.

Women were more prepared to give their number to an 'average' young man after listening to romantic background music, according to research that appears today in the journal Psychology of Music, published by SAGE.

So French scientists have finally caught up with American teenage boys. Well, we never had lab coats and clipboards, so we didn't do the math; but just about all American boys know that you play Barry White for romance, and the Beach Boys to make them drive faster. Also, play Barry White out of one speaker and the Beach Boys out of the other if you want them to drive fast and leave with the policeman who pulls you over. Experience shows that there is no music that can reliably induce them into cleaning your chainsaw. (though polkas work to get them into the kitchen, provided you're playing the polka in the living room)

Harris also testified that Emanuel told him that no one else in the Obama camp was authorized to talk about the Senate seat. That seemed to be an indication that previous messages from a union official that Jackson Jr. was not one of Obama's preferred candidates were unauthorized.

Harris said Blagojevich came away believing Obama knew what he wanted after having a conversation with a local union representative, who in turn spoke with labor leader Tom Balanoff, with whom Blagojevich met to discuss a Jarrett appointment. Jarrett, now a White House adviser, was seeking the appointment to Obama's Senate seat.

So which branch of the government are union officials in? Is that legislative? Judicial? Executive? When did they get the clout to have any influence at all in the appointment of replacement senators?

Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that Emanuel asserted his authority to make deals for the Obama camp. But I have to wonder what the relationship is that allows union officials to presume to speak for Obama.

After making a number of disparaging comments about elements of the Right — including Ron Paul supporters, gay marriage opponents, and fellow blogger Matt Drudge — on a private listserv called "Journolist," Washington Post blogger Dave Weigel has reportedly resigned this morning.

In case you missed it: the latest flap was over Weigel's wish that Matt Drudge set himself on fire.

Anyway, I just thought I'd warn the unemployed that this guy is coming.

The WaPo never really got the conservative-beat thing in the first place. They did the same thing with their religion page, deciding that atheists would do the best job of running it. Ah well.

As the administration keeps up the rhetoric against corporations, more and more businesses are hoarding their cash, not hiring, and postponing spending, out of fear of new taxes or entitlements, or some new “initiative” from a boot-on-the-neck, kick-ass administration.

Once again Victor Davis Hanson nails it. Read it.

The boot-on-the-neck, kick-ass administration. We are the boot we have been waiting for.

US musician John Lennon (R) and his japanese wife Yoko Ono.... ...had to leave the comfort of their bed to try out a Provo white bicycle which had been presented to them today.

I don't know why this old photo came up in a search at DayLife but it should be a textbook example of why socialism is flawed.

The white bicycle program in Amsterdam was how my generation was going to prove our superiority to our capitalist elders. The idea was that these community bicycles would be shared by all. When you needed to go somewhere you just found a white bike and took it to your destination. You then left the bike on the street for the next comrade to use. Our cooperation and love for our fellow man would ensure that the bikes were not abused. (remember, this was 1966, we had love in abundance, the streets were clogged with it)

That's what it was supposed to be. But human nature was involved. Why leave the bicycle on the street for the next guy when you knew you were going to have to make a return trip? What if it was gone when you came back? Best to take it inside then. And maybe take it inside when you got home too, because you know you've got to get to work early tomorrow... And maybe it'd be best to paint the thing black so that the busybody across the street will quit giving you a hard time about hoarding the bicycles.

Course everyone who used the bikes was in the same situation. And in the end, self interest trumped brotherly love. Within a month all the white bicycles were either stolen or thrown in the canals. Experiment over. Idealistic youth (including me) disillusioned.

Well some were disillusioned. Others refused to learn from the evidence and became stuck hippies.

This picture is great though, because it illustrates another aspect of the socialist experiment: preferential treatment for the elite. Hey, he's John Lennon; he gets the bike. Maybe grab one for his band-killer wife too.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

"Nurturing families come in many forms, and children may be raised by a father and mother, a single father, two fathers, a step father, a grandfather, an exceedingly affectionate elementary school janitor, or caring guardian."-Barack Obama

OK, I put in the affectionate janitor, but the rest was him. Happy Fathers day, guys.

And remember, the children are counting on us to show them how to live. They don't stand a chance of getting a slumlord to kick in hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy the side yard for their first mansion unless we show them how to get that sort of thing done. They won't know how to get their spouse a no-show $300K job unless we teach them the Chicago Way.

"It's the most frustrating thing," the Republican governor said today in Buras, La. "Literally, yesterday morning we found out that they were halting all of these barges."

Sixteen barges sat stationary today, although they were sucking up thousands of gallons of BP's oil as recently as Tuesday. Workers in hazmat suits and gas masks pumped the oil out of the Louisiana waters and into steel tanks. It was a homegrown idea that seemed to be effective at collecting the thick gunk.

"These barges work. You've seen them work. You've seen them suck oil out of the water," said Jindal.

I know what happened: Someone realized that they'd be blamed if one of these barges blew up. They probably didn't even understand the risks, but hey, shutting down the barges was the CYA thing to do. Of course, shutting down the barges made the situation even worse. At that point someone would have to actively say that this operation is safe and "I'd stake my A on it."

In any huge bureaucracy interactions are governed by CYA. Probably less so in the military, but still, what's the reward for sticking your neck out? Best to cover-your-*ss and distance yourself from blame.

So no, a lot of this isn't Obama's fault. But I'm good with him getting the blame because, when bureaucratic SNAFUs hindered Bush's Katrina response, Obama was happy to place the blame on Bush. (and Katrina aid was hampered by hurricane damage that limited the first relief convoy to 50 miles travel on the first day) There's no downed trees in your way, Obama, why haven't you plugged the damn hole yet? ***Update: I didn't say it because it goes without saying, but this is exactly why we don't need a huge bureaucracy running health care.

After just a few years of marriage, filled with constant arguments, Ralph and his wife, Mildred, decided the only way to save their marriage was to try counseling. They had been at each others throats for some time and felt that this was their last straw.

When they arrived at the counselor’s office, the counselor jumped right in and opened the floor for discussion: “What seems to be the problem?”

Immediately, Ralph held his long face down without anything to say as Mildred began talking 90 miles and hour describing all the wrongs within their marriage.

After 5 — 10 — 15 minutes of listening to Mildred, the counselor went over to her, picked her up by her shoulders, kissed her passionately for several minutes, and sat her back down.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

So, after 16 months of the Obama presidency, we are starting to see the sort of chaos that results from America’s lack of strategic vision or advocacy of its own values.

Suddenly, democratic allies such as Colombia, Israel, and India cannot count on our support in their rivalries with aggressive neighbors, while overt enemies such as Iran, Hamas, and North Korea wonder whether a brief window has opened for aggrandizement without repercussions.

That last one is what has me worried. It becomes an entirely different game once a theocracy controls nuclear weapons.

Confirming her membership in Manhattan’s liberal elite, Katie Couric boasted on Tuesday’s Late Show that she plans to follow Tom Friedman’s admonition, that in refusing to move away from oil “we have met the enemy and he is us,”

Note, she is just discussing practicing what she preaches; she hasn't really done anything. But she may have inadvertently come up with the Democrat campaign slogan for 2012:

"We are the enemy we have been waiting for"

Can't we go back to: "I know, we'll put on a play!" I am so tired of: "Times are tough. Let's tax them!"